Page 128 - Through a glass brightly

Jane More was your friend who went to Scotland I think. I don’t remember Pauline. You don’t mean Pauline Duffy do you?
From Ann at 15.47
Jane's surname was 'More'; it is now 'Seddon'. Jane lives in Inverness. Unfortunately, she does not seem to use email but we usually exchange news by card/letter at Christmas-and indeed I received a postcard from her a few weeks ago.
Of course I remember walking to school up the Meadway. For me, the journey was just a bit longer than yours -from Hadley Road. I think I always managed to get to school on time. There was a bus up the Meadway but, as a matter of pride, (and finance?) I never took it; probably this continued to form a sound habit of walking which underpinned fitness and pleasure later in life; and the journey was actually shorter than that I had got used to at my previous school in Hitchin.
I remember particularly walking up the Meadway in the early (still winter) months of 1963, in the run-up to A-level. The ice and slush and cold seemed to go on for ever!
Much more enjoyable were the afternoons/evenings when I walked home down the Meadway with you or Jane, sometimes being invited in, perhaps by hospitable mothers, for a cup of tea or coffee. Indeed, I think you once invited me in to see your pet mice in your bedroom.
You write of eating ice cream in the street. The boys' school- which my brother, Charles, attended -was very strict. I seem to recall that pupils were supposed to wear their caps at all times during term time, even when not going to and from school, and I expect eating in the street with a school cap on would have been completely out of the question. And, of course, the boys had to go to school on Saturday mornings too...
From Jenny at 16.42
More memories!! My journey to school :
• 1956-57 - Walked form Woodville Road to QEGGS via the Meadway. Initially calling
for Ruth and Liz Jackson, but eventually abandoning that idea as they were both last
minute merchants.
• 1957-9 - my younger sister joined the school. We began walking together but she was
young in the year and quite small and her little legs got very tired. My mother decided rather than have a tired miserable child on her hands we should take the bus which is what we did until...
• 1959-62 - My parents moved to Totteridge so our journey took on a new dimension. We walked to Totteridge Tube Station and took the underground one stop to High Barnet. There were still hills involved - a shallow one to Totteridge Station and a much steeper one from Barnet to the school, but we managed - my sister's legs had grown by then! The Barnet slope was a real benefit at the end of the day - one could run down there very fast to catch an early train home! A small number of QE girls were on the platform each morning, including often Mag Youngs. More interestingly (at that age) there were also some QE Boys and later some boys in Owens uniform as the school was moving from The Angel to Potters Bar. I never spoke to any of them but we did exchange a few shy glances!! (Unlike the days in the 1920s apparently when girls travelling to QEGGS on the steam trains were locked into their compartments by the guard so they could not fraternise with any boys.)
• 1962-3 - In summer 1962 I passed my driving test. We still mostly continued to go to school on the train but sometimes, especially if we had lots to carry, I prevailed upon my mother to let me borrow her car - a navy blue Ford Anglia. In those days it was possible to park all day at the top of the Meadway (don't try that now as it is all yellow lines!!)
I do recall some furtive eating in school uniform - but it was very furtive. Ann is right about the rules for the boys' school. They had to wear their caps on any school day - including after
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